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This study quantifies the groundwater fluoride contamination and assesses associated health risks in fluoride-prone areas of the city of Taj Mahal, Agra, India. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) risk model and Monte Carlo Simulations were employed for the assessment. Result revealed that, among various rural and urban areas Pachgain Kheda exhibited the highest average fluoride concentration (5.20 mg/L), while Bagda showed the lowest (0.33 mg/L). Similarly, K.K. Nagar recorded 4.38 mg/L, and Dayalbagh had 1.35 mg/L. Both urban and rural areas exceeded the WHO-recommended limit of 1.5 mg/L, signifying significant public health implications. Health risk assessment indicated a notably elevated probability of non-carcinogenic risk from oral groundwater fluoride exposure in the rural Baroli Ahir block. Risk simulations highlighted that children faced the highest health risks, followed by teenagers and adults. Further, Monte Carlo simulation addressed uncertainties, emphasizing escalated risks for for children and teenagers. The Hazard Quotient (HQ) values for the 5th and 95th percentile in rural areas ranged from was 0.28-5.58 for children, 0.15-2.58 for teenager, and 0.05-0.58 for adults. In urban areas, from the range was 0.53 to 5.26 for children, 0.27 to 2.41 for teenagers, and 0.1 to 0.53 for adults. Physiological and exposure variations rendered children and teenagers more susceptible. According to the mathematical model, calculations for the non-cancerous risk of drinking water (HQ-ing), the most significant parameters in all the targeted groups of rural areas were concentration (C W) and Ingestion rate (IR). These findings hold relevance for policymakers and regulatory boards in understanding the actual impact and setting pre-remediation goals., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

The contamination of water due to heavy metals (HMs) is a big concern for humankind; particularly in developing countries. This research is a systematic review, conducted by searching google scholar, Web of Science, Science Direct, PubMed, Springer, and Scopus databases for related published papers from 2010 to July 2021, resulting in including 40 articles. Among the analyzed HMs in the presented review, the average content of Cr, Pb, Ba, Al, As, Zn, and Cd exceeded the permissible limits suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO) and 1,053 Iranian standards. Also, the rank order of Hazard Quotient (HQ) of HMs was defined as Cd>As>Cr>Pb>Li for children which means Cd has the highest non-carcinogenic risk and Li has the least. This verifies to the current order As>Cr>Pb>Fe=Zn=Cu>Cd for adults. The corresponded values of HQ and Hazard Index (HI) in most cities and villages were investigated and the results indicated a lower than 1 value, which means consumers are not at non-carcinogenic risk (HQ). Carcinogenic risk (CR) of As in the adult and children consumers in most of the samples (58.82% of samples for both groups) were investigated too, and it was more than>1.00E-04 value, which determines that consumers are at significant CR., (© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.)

Prevalence of fluorosis is a worldwide public health problem especially in many states of India. It is necessary to find out the fluoride endemic areas to adopt remedial measures to the people on the risk of fluorosis. The target goals of this research were to assess (a) the exposure of fluoride concentration; (b) probabilistic risk assessment, sensitivity analysis, and uncertainty through intake of groundwater among population of Agra City (infants, children and adults) by Crystal Ball software; and (c) spatial distribution of HQ and fluoride concentration. A total of sixty samples from standing tube wells/hand pumps were gathered from selected and identified fluoride prevalent areas in Agra City. The concentration of fluoride scrutinized was obtained to be ranging from 1.32 to 4.60 mg/L with mean value of 2.36 in Agra City, and more than 91% of samples investigated surpassed the allowable level set for fluoride concentration in potable water 1.5 mg/L, although 9% of the samples were well within the drinking water guidelines (0.5-1.5 mg/L). The hazard quotient (HQ) was obtained to an enormous difference in the exposure dose in infants (1.66-3.91), children (1.87-4.4), and adults (0.92-2.16), correspondingly. The non-carcinogenic HQ values in the group of infants, children, and more than 90% of adults were higher than those of the safety level (i.e., HQ >1). Consequently, the non-carcinogenic risks (HQ level) of fluoride vary from the most to the least: children, infant, and adults, respectively. With 87.41% certainty, the results indicated that the HQ values are between 1 and 3.42. So, infant is the most vulnerable group to fluoride consumption in study area. Uncertainty analysis results indicated that the children group's HQ level was between 1 and 1.90 with 38.48% certainty. To avoid further worsening of the situation as far as health is concerned, remedial actions like alternate sources of water supply and appropriate treatment of water need to be adopted besides required medical attention to affected people., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Mutagen 3-chloro-4-(dichloromethyl)-5-hydroxy-2(5H)-furanone (MX) is known as a potent factor in inducing DNA damage and increasing cancer risk. MX is a chlorination disinfection byproduct that comes from the reaction of humic acids and chlorine in drinking water. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of significant factors (including pH, reaction time, chlorine and the concentration of organic materials (TOC)) and their interactions on the MX formation rate in chlorinated drinking water using Box-Behnken Design (BBD) and response surface method (RSM). For this purpose, the simulation of water chlorination disinfection process was carried out in a laboratory scale. A quadratic model was chosen to determine the mathematical relations between the response and the effective factors. All linear parameters, as well as second-degree components except chlorine, were statistically significant. Also, the interactions of contact time with TOC, free chlorine residual with TOC, and chlorine with pH were also statistically significant. Statistical results showed that the pH had a great effect on the potential of MX formation, and then the factors of TOC, chlorine and contact time were effective, respectively. The percentage of contribution (PC) of each component in the formation of MX. The highest significant percentage of contribution (48.36%) was allocated to the pH. Under the optimum conditions (contact time of 48.38 min, chlorine concentration of 0.79 mg/L, TOC concentration of 0.53 mg/L, and pH of 7.98), minimum value of MX was equal to 28.6., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This paper considers exposure to the concentration of fluoride in drinking water resources of Showt city in West Azerbaijan Province in, Iran, and its related potential health risk assessment issues to the resident populations. For this purpose, 88 drinking water samples were analyzed in 2016 by using the spectrophotometric method. Non-carcinogenic health risks due to F exposure through consumption of drinking water were assessed using the US EPA method. In addition, the associated zoning maps of the obtained results were presented using a geographic information system (GIS). The results indicated that fluoride concentration in drinking water ranged from 0.0 to 5.5 mg L -1 of the study area. Based on this research, 36.36% of the samples had a fluoride level higher than the permissible level, 13.63% had less than the permissible limit, and 50% of the samples had a level within the optimum limit of 0.5-1.5 mg L -1 . The Hazard Quotient index (HQ) for children, teenager and adults had health hazards (HQ > 1) in 54.55%, 31.82%, and 22.73% of samples, respectively. Groundwater resources having a risk of more than one were located in the villages of Khilajajam, Kolos, and Shorboulagh. So, in these study areas, there are potential risks of dental and skeletal fluorosis., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Chronic exposure to soft drinking water increases the risk of hypertension. We conducted a cross-sectional study in 2017 in two study areas in the Poldasht County to assess the relation of hardness, body mass index and waist circumference with risk of hypertension. Total water hardness was measured by gravimetric methods. Hardness of > 180 ppm was considered to be hard drinking water. The Shiblu and Gharghologh areas had a four times higher mean total hardness level in drinking water (968.69 mg/L as CaCO 3 ) than the Sarisoo and Agh Otlogh (180 mg/L as CaCO 3 ) areas. According to the results of the study, the prehypertension prevalence in areas with high and low water hardness was calculated as 23.15% (18.11-29.15) and 46.84% (37.61-57.64), respectively. Moreover, the result showed the prevalence of hypertension and prehypertension was higher in regions with low hardness than those with high hardness, which was statistically significant (P < 0.001). The results of logistic regression showed that age, body mass index, waist circumference and hardness of drinking water were significantly related to hypertension. Accordingly, hypertension was low in people of regions with high hardness (OR 0.26, 0.17-0.42). This report examined whether total hardness in drinking water was protective against hypertension. This is an important finding for the ministry of human health as well as for the water and sewage company.

Prevalence of fluorosis is a worldwide public health issue, especially in the West Azerbaijan province of Iran. The aim of this study was to investigate fluoride concentration in drinking water resources within Maku city, in both the warm and cold seasons, to perform a health risk assessment. Fluoride were measured using UV-visible spectrophotometry. The spatial distribution was calculated by the software ArcGIS and Hazard Quotients (HQs) were calculated according to the US EPA method. The fluoride concentrations ranged between 0.29 to 6.68 and 0.1 to 11.4 mg/L in the cold and warm seasons, respectively. Based on this report, 30.64 and 48.15% of the samples revealed a fluoride level higher than the permissible level in the cold and warm seasons, respectively. Moreover, results showed that the HQ value in the warm season for different age groups was higher than the HQ value in the cold season. In both seasons, the non-carcinogenic risks of fluoride for the four exposed populations varied according to the order: children > teenagers > adults > infants. The HQ values for three age groups (children, teenager and adults) for both seasons were higher than 1 with a high risk of fluorosis. The results of this study, support the requests that government authorities better manage water supplies to improve health quality.

The presence of fluoride in drinking water can be either beneficial or harmful for human health, depending on its concentration. Most adverse effects of fluoride are observed at high concentrations (above 1.5 mg/L). This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of fluoride concentrations in drinking water on spontaneous abortion in two regions: one with low fluoride concentration and another with high fluoride concentration. The results showed that there is a relationship between the concentration of fluoride in drinking water and abortion, so that the risk of abortion increased at high concentrations of fluoride. However, further studies are needed to clarify this relationship due to the small area and population in this study.

Hypertension is becoming a global epidemic for both rural and urban populations; it is a major public health challenge in Iran. Fluoride can be a risk factor for hypertension. Cross-sectional analysis was conducted in two study areas to assess the relation of fluoride with blood pressure prevalence, BMI, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) among different age groups in both sexes. The mean value of fluoride concentration in the drinking water from the four study villages varied from 0.68 to 10.30 mg/L. The overall prevalence of HTN and prehypertension in all subjects was 40.7%. The prevalence of isolated systolic hypertension, isolated diastolic hypertension, systolic-diastolic hypertension, and prehypertension in the total sample population was 1.15, 0.28, 9.53, and 29.76%, respectively. The odd ratio of hypertension in residents who drank water with high fluoride levels was higher than that in residents who drank water with lower level of fluoride (OR 2.3, 1.03-5.14). Logistic regression results showed that age (P < 0.001), sex (P = 0.018), BMI (P = 0.015), and the fluoride level in drinking water (P = 0.041) had a significant relationship with increased blood pressure. There were no statistically significant correlations between fluoride and BMI, hip circumference, and waist to hip ratio (WHR). The findings of this study are important for health care personnel and policymakers.

Skeletal fluorosis resulting from high fluoride level in drinking water is a major public health problem. The present study evaluated the association between exposures to drinking water fluoride and skeletal fluorosis in 5 villages of Poldasht County, Iran. All the data and information on the prevalence of bone diseases were obtained from the Health Record Department, Poldasht Health Centre. To obtain the odds ratio of bone disease problem in different risk factors, when considering the cluster effect of rural area, logistic regression in a multilevel model was used. Results showed that skeletal fluorosis of people who live in areas with high fluoride concentration is 18.1% higher than that of individuals who live in areas with low fluoride concentration. Skeletal fluorosis (54.5%) was observed in the age group of 71 years and above, and was more commonly found in females than males. According to Unadjusted, individuals who consume ≤3 unit milk and dairy products per week have almost the same level of bone diseases as compared to those that consume more than 3 units. This study indicated that, skeletal fluorosis is a general health problem in these rural areas because the results revealed that high percentage of the studied population had symptoms of skeletal fluorosis.

The contamination of water due to heavy metals (HMs) is a big concern for humankind; particularly in developing countries. This research is a systematic review, conducted by searching google scholar, Web of Science, Science Direct, PubMed, Springer, and Scopus databases for related published papers from 2010 to July 2021, resulting in including 40 articles. Among the analyzed HMs in the presented review, the average content of Cr, Pb, Ba, Al, As, Zn, and Cd exceeded the permissible limits suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO) and 1,053 Iranian standards. Also, the rank order of Hazard Quotient (HQ) of HMs was defined as Cd>As>Cr>Pb>Li for children which means Cd has the highest non-carcinogenic risk and Li has the least. This verifies to the current order As>Cr>Pb>Fe=Zn=Cu>Cd for adults. The corresponded values of HQ and Hazard Index (HI) in most cities and villages were investigated and the results indicated a lower than 1 value, which means consumers are not at non-carcinogenic risk (HQ). Carcinogenic risk (CR) of As in the adult and children consumers in most of the samples (58.82% of samples for both groups) were investigated too, and it was more than>1.00E-04 value, which determines that consumers are at significant CR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater is an important source of drinking water in arid areas, and its quality can affect human health. Groundwater quality investigations were performed to assess the physicochemical quality parameters of groundwater of Northeastern Iran, to determine its suitability for drinking purposes based on the drinking water quality index (WQI). The suitability for drinking purposes was evaluated by comparing the physicochemical parameters of groundwater in the study area with those prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and standard Code of 1053 (Iran National Standard). Five indices were considered to determine water suitability for industrial purposes. A total of 51 water samples were taken based on standard methods (in September 2017 and April 2018) for the measurement of the most important physicochemical parameters, including major anions, cation, pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), alkalinity, and electronic conductivity. The WQI values showed that 30.65 and 65.08% of the groundwater samples were in the excellent and very good water quality categories, respectively. Due to the human impact, 4.07% of the samples were in the poor range category. The results demonstrated that based on the Langelier saturation index (LSI), 34.9% of the water distribution network was corrosive. Furthermore, the Larson empirical index showed that 17.46% of the network had a corrosive potential for the occurrence of holes and leakages. The aggressiveness index (AI) categorised 20.6% of the groundwater resource into a moderately aggressive condition. The high values of WQI in several groundwater samples of Neyshabur indicated that water is suitable for direct domestic consumptions. The results also showed that drinking water tends to be corrosion in the studied area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concentrations of arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) and the human health risk of the metals were estimated through drinking water consumption. Totally, 48 samples of groundwater were collected and analyzed during 2019. Health risk indices were estimated using chronic daily intake (CDI), hazard quotient (HQ) and, hazard index (HI), as well as cancer risk (CR). Except for As (66.6% of the areas were above permissible limits), the concentrations of other three heavy metals were within the US EPA and WHO permissible limits. ∑ HI values in 100% and 75% of the areas were above 1 for children and adults, implying non-carcinogenic risk from sum of heavy metals. Children total cancer risk (CRt) in all areas (except one area with acceptable risk) fell within unacceptable risk. Adults CRt in all areas (except one area with unacceptable risk) were in acceptable risk category. As was the highest contributor to non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks both for children and adults. Our results showed that children were more exposed to health risks, due to intake of drinking water containing As, Cr, and Pb in the study areas. The study can provide a basis for local governments to properly manage drinking water quality and provide a reference for water quality management in neighborhood areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study was designed to measure the concentrations of heavy (Pb, Cu, Fe, Ni, and Zn) metals in water, soil, and frequently edible leafy vegetables in the Iranian population and assessed the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risk in consumers. Methods: The samples of soil, water, and vegetables were collected from forms near the Tehran-Mashhad highway in Neyshabur, Iran. The content of heavy metals in the samples was analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry. Results: The average concentrations of Pb, Cu, Fe, Ni, and Zn were 5.56, 3.35, 4.74, 2.95, and 5.27 mg/kg, respectively. Lead concentration in all of the vegetable samples was higher than the permissible value endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO) / Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In contrast, the concentrations of all the other heavy metals in the samples were less than the maximum permissible levels recommended by WHO/FAO. Similarly, the water and soil samples were highly contaminated by Lead. The hazard quotient (HQ) of all the heavy metals was distinctively less than one, and it did not exceed 0.3 in any of the age groups. Furthermore, the carcinogenic risk for nickel was only higher than the recommended value, especially in women. Conclusion: While it seems that consuming vegetables has no acute health risk related to heavy metals, long-term and regular ingestion of the vegetables are likely to make cancer risk. Besides, due to the high concentration of Pb in soil and vegetables, regular and integrated assessment of heavy metals in soil, water, and food is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater is the world’s considerable resource for providing drinking water to millions of people worldwide. It is essential to assess groundwater quality for drinking water purposes due to the increasing trend of contaminants in this water. Therefore, this research has been carried out to study groundwater quality for 22 different village’s well locations of Barauli Ahir block rural areas of Agra region, India, using the water quality indexing method. A total of sixty-six groundwater samples from identified areas were collected, selected as polluted ones. Twelve physico-chemical parameters were estimated to assess its eligibility for drinking purposes based on the drinking water quality index (WQI). The result shows that the groundwater was brackish, and the total dissolved solids ranged from 340–1,503 mg/L. The alkalinity varied between 142–531 mg/L, considered for the concentration of bicarbonate ions. The range of fluoride concentration is from 0.33 to 4.88; more than 45.4% of samples have a concentration of fluoride more significant than the WHO acceptable limit, that is, 1.5 mg/L. The water quality of drinking purposes was plotted in the Piper trilinear diagram, revealing that the water type at this study area was categorized as Na+ /HCO3 – or Na+ / Cl– type followed by Ca+ /HCO3 – type. Schoeller’s diagram reveals that the concentration of magnesium and sulfate ions was least present among all cations and anions, which reveals that the hardness in water is low. The maximum and minimum value of the water quality index was found to be 233.16 and 49.80. The result of WQI showed that 41% of collected samples lie in the unfit water category, 45.5% of samples lie in the very poor category, 9% of samples lie in the poor category, and 4.5% of samples lie in the excellent category. This water quality index proved that it is necessary to treat water before using and protect the area from health hazards at Barauli Ahir block. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prevalence of fluorosis is a worldwide public health problem especially in many states of India. It is necessary to find out the fluoride endemic areas to adopt remedial measures to the people on the risk of fluorosis. The target goals of this research were to assess (a) the exposure of fluoride concentration; (b) probabilistic risk assessment, sensitivity analysis, and uncertainty through intake of groundwater among population of Agra City (infants, children and adults) by Crystal Ball software; and (c) spatial distribution of HQ and fluoride concentration. A total of sixty samples from standing tube wells/hand pumps were gathered from selected and identified fluoride prevalent areas in Agra City. The concentration of fluoride scrutinized was obtained to be ranging from 1.32 to 4.60 mg/L with mean value of 2.36 in Agra City, and more than 91% of samples investigated surpassed the allowable level set for fluoride concentration in potable water 1.5 mg/L, although 9% of the samples were well within the drinking water guidelines (0.5-1.5 mg/L). The hazard quotient (HQ) was obtained to an enormous difference in the exposure dose in infants (1.66–3.91), children (1.87–4.4), and adults (0.92–2.16), correspondingly. The non-carcinogenic HQ values in the group of infants, children, and more than 90% of adults were higher than those of the safety level (i.e., HQ >1). Consequently, the non-carcinogenic risks (HQ level) of fluoride vary from the most to the least: children, infant, and adults, respectively. With 87.41% certainty, the results indicated that the HQ values are between 1 and 3.42. So, infant is the most vulnerable group to fluoride consumption in study area. Uncertainty analysis results indicated that the children group's HQ level was between 1 and 1.90 with 38.48% certainty. To avoid further worsening of the situation as far as health is concerned, remedial actions like alternate sources of water supply and appropriate treatment of water need to be adopted besides required medical attention to affected people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Mutagen X is a hazardous by-product of disinfection by chlorine, which is responsible for most of the mutagenicity in chlorinated drinking water. It has the cancer potency value of 100-fold higher than bromodichloromethane and 6000-fold higher than chloroform, In this study, Mutagen X was removed from aqueous media by a thermally reduced graphene oxide bonded on the surface of amino-functionalized sand particles. Method: A Box-Behnken design was applied to optimize the adsorption process. Characterization of the adsorbent and graphene oxide was accomplished using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and Raman analysis. The effects of three independent parameters, including initial concentration (20–200 μg L−1), temperature (5–30 °C), and adsorbent dose (2–80 g L−1) were examined using batch experiments. Results: Characterization results confirmed that the graphene oxide was successfully coated on the surface of sand particles. Regression analysis of experimental results showed a great fit with a quadratic polynomial model with the R2 = 0.999. Optimum conditions (initial concentration: 20 μg L−1, temperature: 30 °C, and adsorbent dose: 80 g L−1) with the desirability of 1.0 resulted in the minimum residual concentration of Mutagen X (2 μg L−1). Equilibrium study results depicted that the experimental data were fitted well to the Freundlich and UT isotherm models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of high variations in fluoride concentration and many contaminated areas, Iran has been known as an interesting country regarding different fluoride studies. However, researches on fluoride concentration and its effects in northern strip of Iran are limited; moreover, risk assessment studies have been neglected in these areas. Therefore, this study focused on the measurement and risk assessment of fluoride in water supplies of villages around Babol County in north of Iran. Therefore, this descriptive cross-sectional research was performed in the city of Babol, Iran, 2017. Eighty water samples were taken from 40 wells in the rural areas (40 and 40 samples in cold and warm seasons). The SPANDS method was used for the measurement of fluoride concentration. The non-carcinogenic risk of fluoride was assessed in four age groups (infant, children, teenager and adult). The risk of dental and skeletal fluorosis was counted based on the international standard. From all villages (n = 24), respectively, 4 and 3 villages in cold and warm seasons had proper fluoride concentrations according to the WHO standard; fluoride concentration of other villages was lower than the WHO minimum standard of. Any observable risk of dental and skeletal fluorosis in all studied villages for the whole age groups was not observed; the HQ of all the villages was lower than 1 except for Kalhu Dasht because its HQ was higher than 1 in infants and children in cold season. Infant and children of this village were exposed to risk of dental fluorosis. In northern areas of Iran, not only there is not a risk of dental or skeletal fluorosis, which is related to high concentration of fluoride, but also there is a risk of dental decay due to low fluoride concentration in water drinking water. However, this hypothesis needs to further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluoride in drinking water is an important chemical species with regard to public health considerations, although a fluoride concentration of about 1.5 mg L-1 in drinking water can decrease tooth decay and higher concentrations cause health problems. The concentration of fluoride in water is affected by some chemical characteristics. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between fluoride and other chemical parameters (pH, Turbidity, EC, TDS, TH, ALK, Cl-, SO4 2-, NO3-, NO2-, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, PO4 3-) in water bodies located in Showt, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. Sample preparation and analysis were performed according to standard methods. A wide range of fluoride concentrations was measured in this study (0.0-5.5 mg L-1). The results indicated that alkalinity and Na+ have a significant positive relationship with fluoride concentrations in water wells. Nevertheless, total hardness (TH) showed an inverse relationship with fluoride concentration. In addition, for a one-unit increase in alkalinity and Na+ concentration, the average amount of fluoride in water increased by 0.0028 and 0.16, respectively. Furthermore, for a one-unit increase in total hardness, the average amount of fluoride in water decreased by 0.005. In conclusion, fluoride concentration was affected by numerous factors such as hardness, alkalinity, and Na+ concentration. The findings of this study suggest that a suitable treatment of the groundwater is needed in contaminated areas before its use for drinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diarrhea is one of the main causes of children's death. Due to the importance of health in children under 5 years, this study has been conducted to determine the influence of the use of improved sanitation facilities (UISF) and the use of improved drinking-water sources (UIDWS) on the diarrhea-associated deaths per 1000 live births in this age group. An ecologic study was conducted in 75 countries, and the data on UIDWS and UISF information have been collected by World Health Organization (WHO) under a program named "Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water" (GLAAS). To determine the correlation between UIDWS and UISF with the diarrhea-associated deaths in children, Pearson correlation was applied. Besides, a linear regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between UIDWS and UISF with the diarrhea-associated deaths in children. According to the findings, there was a significant statistical relationship between UIDWS and UISF with the diarrhea-associated deaths in children (p < 0.001). The diarrhea-associated deaths in children under 5 years are influenced by factors such as UIDWS and UISF, and this rate can be reduced making UISF and UIDWS available for people and especially people of rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial and temporal variability of fluoride and nitrate in groundwater resources of rural area of Saravan county, Iran were analyzed 2013–2017 using GIS (V10.3). The results were used for human health risk assessment, using probabilistic techniques. The annual mean concentration of fluoride during 2013 to 2017 in villages of Saravan county was 0.42, 0.62, 0.67, 0.57, and 0.55 mg L-1, and the maximum values were 1.1, 1.42, 1.76, 1.46, and 1.3 mg L-1, respectively. Also, the annual mean concentration of nitrate during 2013 to 2017 in Saravan county villages were 12.53, 14.1, 15.43, 14.34, and 14.02, and the maximum values were 66.1, 80, 35.6, 76.12, and 40 mg L-1, respectively. Spatial, temporal, and spatiotemporal variability of fluoride and nitrate in groundwater resources were relatively not constant over the years. The calculated HQ value of fluoride was for groups of infant (0.013–0.235), children (0.035–1.83), teenagers (0.067–1.1), and adults (0.053–0.94). The maximum HQ value was >1 for children and teenagers during the study period. Meanwhile, the HQ values of nitrate were (0.005–0.4) for infants, (0.035–2.69) children, (0.025–2) teenagers, and (0.02–1.6) for adults. Hence, the maximum HQ value was >1 for children, teenagers, and adult during the study period. This study showed that children, teenagers, and adult are vulnerable groups at risk of non-carcinogenic hazards for being exposed to drinking water with high fluoride and nitrate concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, harmful contaminants such as nitrate and fluoride have become more common. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016 on the ground water resources of Baradaskan city. In order to investigate the concentration fluoride and nitrate, sampling was done in 30 drinking water resources, then chemical parameters were analyzed according to standard method. The purposes of this investigation was (1) to provide an overview of present drinking water quality and compare it with the national standard (2) to determine spatial distribution of groundwater quality fluoride and nitrate concentrations, (3) to map groundwater quality in the study area, using GIS (V10.3), and (4) human health risk assessment was performed by calculating the chronic daily intake (CDI) and hazard quotient (HQ) of fluoride and nitrate through oral intake for infants, children, teenagers and adults. The minimum and maximum values of nitrate and fluoride concentrations were between 0.0- 77.2, 0.2-1.036 mg/l, respectively. Spatial distributions of nitrate and fluoride concentrations showed that highest nitrate and lowest fluoride concentrations occurred in the north-east region of the study area. HQ values of nitrate for children, teenagers and adults 3, 1, 2 villages were more than one. In contrast, mean HQ values of fluoride were lower than 1, which was mostly acceptable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research, including animal studies, shows that the fluoride ion (F) adversely impacts the reproductive system in mammals. However, the gene-environment interaction mechanisms involved in this association remain unclear. The objective of the present study was to measure the F level in two regions of Poldasht county, Iran, with low and high drinking water F levels (means 1.90 and 8.10 mg/L, respectively) and to examine, in females living in the areas, the relationship between the drinking water F and (i) fertility, (ii) infertility without known etiological factors, and (iii) abortion without known etiological factors. Comparing the women in the low and high F areas, the respective rates were: (i) fertility: 105/1993, 5.3%; 70/1224, 0.5%; (ii) infertility without known etiological factors: 17/ 1993, 0.9%; 24/1224, 2.0%; and (iii) abortion without known etiological factors: 6/105, 5.7%; 11/70, 10.0%. We found that there were no statistically significant differences in the reproductive parameters between the low and high F regions when the women were considered by 5-year age groups, but, when the data were pooled and all the age groups were considered together in a group with ages 10-49 yr, those in the low F group were more fertile (p<0.05) and had lower rates of (i) infertility without known etiological factors (p<0.001) and (ii) abortion without known etiological factors (p<0.001). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]